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Writing Intermission

There is still much to talk about with the city that never sleeps–gratuitous cliche–but shoveling the snow for the second time today got my mind wandering, thinking. Yes, this guy shovels snow (marketable and domestic resume perk–yes). Not only do I enjoy shoveling snow, I enjoy doing it multiple times. Blowers? We don’t need no stinkin’ blowers. Shoveling is therapeutic, and–like showers for me–is a catalyst for ideas.

Syracuse is beautiful the whole year around, and it’s especially important to remember that Central New York has four distinct seasons. Even though snow infiltrates spring quite often than not.

Around 2005, my first and has-yet-to-be-finalized-and-published novel began. It wasn’t until the end of it that it that this whole process truly began. Indecisive Chris had a seed, a concept, and a basic frame to how this would play out. However, saving the indecisive adjective, the concept was rehashed, trashed, deleted, scrapped, and burned.

Yes, I burned the beginning of a manuscript.

The first chapter written was during the winter, and the idea–the lead up–was generated by shoveling. This was incorporated into the chapter, shoveling… well, kind of. Today, I got a great idea during my second shoveling session. It’s not that great or new of an idea for writing, but it’s something to break up the redundancy of writing and reading for that matter. The piece of work takes place in the course of one year, features a main character full of piss and vinegar and has more sympathy than Holden Caufield, and it is written in present tense. The thought is to throw in a preface, which would take place at some place during the novel; this would be written in present tense, and then the following chapters would be written in past tense. When the course of the novel catches up with itself, the rest will be written in the present.

It’s been interesting writing in present tense, because it’s a challenge to take on a different persona while writing out paragraphs and dialogue, structuring the work so it does not sound like stage directions. Screenwriting will be in the future, which could work out well since there is a lot of dialogue in my fiction. But that’s neither here nor there for the time being.

First thing is first, and the novel has to get done, and it has to be published the right way. It’s almost been a decade. Being my own worst enemy, the writing has been reworked too many times. Time–two years–was taken off not by choice–this is my fault for not sticking up for myself–and it’s been another year of turbulence trying to get back in the groove of working on it.

So, I can thank shoveling. I can thank the actual snow globe that Syracuse is–the lake effect snow floating lightly to the ground. Like my novel, not similarly to my main character and his fashion of lying upon the ground, it all begins while standing in the driveway as the snow is falling. Like revisiting the novel–the writing aspect–and revisiting scenes, everything is reinstated in the frigid December weather with the wind that bites at your ear… and in the driveway.

The driveway is clear, and my vehicle needs to be taken out of park. It’s been warming up while the process and life has been temporarily covered over. It’s time to get going, make some miles, and it’s time to progress.